ALL SHOOK UP

A few years ago, we were blessed to behold one of God’s more unusual creations on our back deck -- a varmint that carries the official scientific name of “Nutria.” That sounds like a faux sweetener to me. Said Nutria looks like a combination of a beaver and a Jurassic rat, and it belongs in Louisiana marshes, so what it’s doing in the Midwest, I dunno. We're accustomed to seeing foxes, skunks, and raccoons, but this varmint was totally unexpected. It’s good to get shook up occasionally, especially as a retired person. It keeps the blood pumping.

I'm a big fan of dainty wee ladybugs, delicate butterflies, and sweet green inchworms. But the rare sight of a jungle-sized spider weaving its trap on my deck causes shock and awe, and a desire to move to Antarctica, where there are only frozen spiders.

It’s far too easy to take for granted the daily sun-sets, and moon-rises. I’ll never forget the day when my “laissez-faire” attitude towards the created universe was immediately changed. We were driving home on our hilly road, and there was a harvest moon so huge, blazingly orange, and low on the horizon that I swore it had landed ON the street in front of us. My heart almost stopped for the extreme beauty, and yes, even fear of God’s creation!  And now that a very rare solar eclipse is upon us, I prepare to be amazed once again at His handiwork.

This causes me to realize that, in daily Bible readings, it can be easy, through repetition, to fail to appreciate the sovereignty of God, and the eternality and dominion of Christ. It’s important for me to stop occasionally, and meditate on the instances where people in the Bible actually fell on their faces when confronted with the majesty and holiness of God (Genesis 17:3), and of the preincarnate and risen Christ (Ezekiel 1:28, Revelation 1:17). There will come a day when “at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10).

Lord Jesus, may I never become a spiritual sluggard, taking You and Your sovereign authority for granted.  I praise You when I read Your thundering perspective to Job, "where were you when I ..... [created] ..." (Job 38-41).  How blessed I feel when You get me “shook up,” renewing the proper perspective of humility before You, and to keep my “spiritual blood” pumping.

WHINING TO GOD

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you couldn’t help yourself, you just started whining to God?  I know I have.

“I don’t wanna be in rush hour in a blizzard with only a box of donut crumbs for sustenance!”

“I don’t wanna be standing in the unemployment line!”

“I don’t wanna be in the hospital with a broken leg ’cause I was rollerblading at age 60!”

Okay, that last one isn’t true.  It was just a broken bone in the foot whilst walking the dog and dodging oncoming traffic.

Anyway, as uncomfortable as it is to admit that I can indeed be a whiner, I know many of you will come forward and admit that you are also whiners.  And if you don’t, well, you’re better people than me, Gunga Din.

There is indeed a point here.  When lingering in the Psalms, this incident about the Jews’ captivity really stuck with me.  The captors asked them to sing a song of Zion, and they responded, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4).  There it is -- “I don’t wanna be captive in another country!”  Can’t say as I blame them, it sounds really horrible.

However, fast-forward many centuries and compare it with the Paul and Silas when they were captive in Philippian jail (Acts 16:25; Philippians 1:12-14).  What if they had whined to God, “I don’t wanna be in this jail?  Do I have to?”  It’s possible God would have told them, “No, you don’t have to.  You GET to.  You get to have the privilege in your confinement of pointing that guard, those other prisoners, to ME, to salvation.”

Ahh, it’s making sense now.  Paul and Silas were confined in jail, but by their joyful witness, a guard was saved.  Paul understood that, even though he might be in bondage, the word of God never has been, and never will be, imprisoned (2 Timothy 2:9).  Paul’s temporary physical bondage led a person in spiritual bondage to sin to be freed from it.

Thank You, my Father, for showing me that whining accomplishes nothing, but praising and glorifying You accomplishes everything. You’ve given me a firm foundation to know that if You choose to place me in a “foreign-land captivity and/or prison” circumstance in the future, it could very well be a divine appointment to spiritual freedom for someone else.  Thank You for scriptural examples of Your purpose at work in Your children.